For 10 years, Md Fahim worked in South Africa to support his family in Narayanganj, paying for his two sisters’ weddings, financing his twin brothers’ education and bearing the household’s expenses.
His parents had hoped to welcome the 29-year-old home in January and arrange his wedding. Instead, the family received news that he had been killed in a devastating shop fire.
Fahim was among six Bangladeshis, including five from Narayanganj, who died when a fire broke out at a shop in Queenstown in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province at around 3am on Tuesday.
News of his death plunged his family and neighbours in Kroker Char under Alirtek Union into grief.
His father, Monir Hossain, was left speechless and had not spoken to anyone since learning of the tragedy, relatives said. The cries of Fahim’s mother and four siblings cast a pall over the neighbourhood.
Family members said Fahim was the household’s sole breadwinner. He travelled to South Africa in search of work at the age of 18 after taking responsibility for supporting his family.
Alirtek Union Parishad member Roushan Ali arranged a job for him at the shop where the fire occurred. Several others from the same area later travelled there to work.
During his decade abroad, Fahim paid for the marriages of his two sisters and covered the full educational expenses of his twin brothers, Jahid and Nahid, who sat their Higher Secondary Certificate examinations this year.
The family had planned for Fahim to return home in January to get married and had begun preparing the necessary documents. That long-awaited homecoming will now never take place.
The fire also claimed the lives of Apon Ahmed, 23, Nur Hossain, 55, Md Faisal, 26, and Md Shahin.
Roushan Ali, who is also the owner of the shop, confirmed the deaths.
He said four of the victims were from Alirtek Union, one from neighbouring Baktabali Union and another from the Rikabibazar area of Munshiganj. All six were related to one another, he added.
Narayanganj Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer S M Foyez Uddin, however, said the local administration had yet to receive official information about the incident.
“We have not received any communication from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and none of the affected families has contacted us. We are looking into the matter,” he said.
Narayanganj Sadar Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge Sajedur Rahman also said police had not received any official information.
